An independent blog looking at things from a classically liberal perspective. We are independent of any group or organization, and only speak for ourselves, and intend to keep it that way.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

When government goes insane

On three occasions this blog has covered the sad plight of substitute Julie Amero. Here,here, and here.

Ms. Amero had taken over a class for a missing teacher. On her desk was a computer. It connected to the internet but had no firewall, and no software to control viruses or spyware. In fact it was still running Windows 98. School computers had previously been infested with porn.

Amero went to a web site on hairdressing when pop up ads with explicit photos started appearing. As fast as she tried to close them down they kept reappearing. She tried to chase students away from her desk. Some got a glimpse of the images. For that Amero, under what is called the justice system in America, was put on trial.

The prosecutor realized he had a bad case and offered her probation, with no prison time, if she pled guilty to a crime. Amero said she was innocent and wouldn’t do that. She was found guilty in court. Amazing. The prosecution told the jury that the only way for the pop ups to appear was for Amero to have gone to these web sites. It was a lie but it worked.

After her conviction computer experts around the world were incensed. They knew that the prosecutors were lying about the facts. Anyone who has spent any time on the internet knew the story was a lie. Pop ups can appear whether you want them to do so or not.

Yesterday Amero went to court again. She was to be sentenced for her “crime” and she faced up to 40 years in prison! That is the disgusting state of American law on such matters. Instead Judge Hiliary Strackbein said she was sending the case back to trial because she believed the jury “may have relied, at least in part, on that faulty information.” God bless activist judges! When government goes mad we need them. And the government in America is totally bonkers.